Legacy of the Triforce
by Numinor29
Summary: Post OoT. As time passed, the Triforce vanished, going to three new owners. Fate may be bindng these three together, but something is definitely opposing them. So how can a fighter, a mage, and a scholar save the world? Oh, that's simple. They CAN'T. Rev


Notes:

Post OoT, as in "Link and Zelda are married, Link's king, and they have kids".

The geography isn't quite the same. The layout of Hyrule is pretty much the same as in OoT, but places are a good ways further apart then they are in the game. As in "several days" apart, in some cases. As a reference, it's about a five hour ride from Hyrule Castle to Kakariko, and four days from Hyrule Castle to the center of Lon Lon Ranch (as the ranch is huge in this story; it's only three days to the edge).

Biggoron's sword is a lot bigger and a lot heavier. And thus hurts a lot more when it his something.

A day is 24 hours, not ten minutes, like in the game.

Disclaimer: The author does not own the copyrights to The Legend of Zelda. That honor belongs to Nintendo. He does, however, own several characters, a Fictionpress account, and far too many Muses. Lawyers smell.

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_The Legend of Zelda_

_Legend of the Triforce_

Chapter One

Fifteen years after Zelda gave birth to twins, a Hylian boy slowly got into a fighting stance, his left hand pulled back into a fist. With brown hair and hazel eyes, he looked fairly average, though his face was known across the kingdom. A second passed while he concentrated, then his fist shot forward and shattered the boulder that had been stopping trade between the Gorons and the rest of Hyrule.

"…That should do it." The boy said, straightening. The townspeople could only stare. The boulder had been shot out of the mountain, and not even multiple Gorons rolling into it had been enough to break it. "Well, if I'm no longer needed, then I'll be on my way." He began heading back to Kakariko, but paused as a young Hylian girl tugged on his sleeve.

"Thank you, Prince Rai." She said, looking very nervous. The Prince was well known for being a little cold-hearted from time to time, but none doubted that he was a good person. Half-smiling, the Prince took off his shimmering gauntlets and pat the girl on the head a few times before moving on, stuffing the golden items into a pouch on his horse as he lead it to the middle of town.

"You." He said, pointing to one of the villagers. "Do you know where I can find any Rosmeritus Balmian?" the villager nodded.

"It's sold over there." He said, pointing to a small building hidden in the shadows of several larger ones. The Prince nodded, thanked him, and purchased some of the herb before mounting his steed and setting out for home.

As he rode, the Prince's mind wandered to two people he'd been seeing a lot in his dreams lately. One was of a boy about his own age, who seemed to be questing for something. The other was of a girl, and her scene was generally the same; she was sitting in a cage with her knees pulled to her chest, and her arms wrapped around her legs. The background tended to change, but it was almost always the same general thing. He sighed, wondering what it all meant.

He wasn't unaware of the fact that the power of prophesizing through dreams ran in his family, through his mother's side, but he wished that the dreams would explain things a little more. A small mark on his right hand glowed for a moment, and the by sighed again.

"Stupid thing always acts up when I'm thinking." He muttered, pulling on a pair of gloves to hide the glow of the Triforce piece he had.

Several hours later, the Prince of Hyrule rode into Hyrule Castle Town, slowing his horse to a walk as he reached the drawbridge. Wordlessly, he dismounted, letting one of the stationed guards take care of his steed after he had retrieved his pack.

"Welcome home, Prince Rai!"

"How was your trip, Prince?"

"Welcome back!"

"Did you hear about the guests that are at the castle?" somebody asked. The Prince paused and looked at him. "Oh, you didn't? A group of entertainers from some place called Holodrum came, and set up an impromptu circus inside the castle grounds. Your parents seem to really like them."

"Is that so…" the Prince muttered. "Thanks for the information." He flicked the peasant a rupee and walked towards the castle, wondering what sort of people these entertainers were going to be. As he approached the castle, the prince noticed a huge structure made of what looked like wood and dyed animal hides had been set up on the castle lawn, and a line of people was outside of it. Raising an eyebrow, he quietly slipped around the back and, going against far too many rules, headed backstage. Nobody was on guard, to his surprise.

"But sir…" a weak female voice said, from somewhere further in. "I'm not strong enough to do that sort of magic! You haven't fed me in a week!" Prince Rai froze, a scowl starting to darken his face.

"We've been very short on provisions! You're not the only one going hungry! And you'll be fed right afterwards; Rasha's in the town right now, buying supplies with the money we've already earned here!" a male voice snapped. "And make the crowd happy, or you'll go _another _week without food!" Rai heard the man stomp off, and the sound of a girl slumping down.

Eyes narrowed, the Prince slipped around a few boxes and looked into a secluded section. His eyes widened. Shivering in the cage, chain around her neck and all, was the very girl he'd been dreaming about for over a month. He thought for only a moment before making up his mind. The Prince hurried over to the cage.

"Hey. Need some help?" he asked, going straight to the point. The girl looked up at him, then her eyes shot open.

"You… You're the boy from my dreams…" she croaked out. Rai nodded calmly. "But… How could you get me out? These bars are steel, no person could—" she broke off, gaping, as the Prince calmly reached out and pulled five bars out, enough so that she could squeeze through without too much trouble. "How…" she whispered weakly.

"…I'm strong." The Prince replied, clenching a fist. "Very, very strong, even without Dad's Gauntlets. Come on, if these people aren't going to treat you well, you're not staying." He grabbed her hand, being careful not to squeeze too hard, and led her through some hidden areas to the front gate of the Castle.

"Prince Rai, what's—" a guard began.

"Shut up and hide her." Rai said, indicating the girl he had rescued. "And if anybody working in that tent thing asks about her, lie to them and act like you know nothing. Oh, and feed her." He didn't bother adding that it was an order. The guards knew that he would have a good reason for it, and besides, he could quite easily toss them right out of the castle grounds. The girl was quickly escorted into the castle, and after sneaking back to the main gate, Prince Rai of Hyrule calmly walked down the main path right back towards the castle, giving himself an alibi.

He ignored the people who began crowding around him, trying to gain favor, and proceeded directly to the guards again.

"Well? Am I allowed in?" he asked loudly. "Or have I been away so long that you don't recognize me?"

"O-of course, sir!" one of the guards said, catching on. "Welcome back, my Prince. How was your journey to Kakariko?" he replied just as loudly.

"Oh, simple enough. Their problem's been taken care of." Rai replied. "How's my sister doing?" the guards exchanged glances, then quieted down.

"She hasn't improved at all." One of them muttered, downcast. "The best healers in the land can't seem to do a thing to help her. Nobody can figure out what the problem is. They say she's in perfect health, but she sleeps almost twenty four hours a day, only waking long enough to eat and go to the privy."

"I see…" Rai muttered. "Well, I think I found something that may help. But don't get your hopes up." He headed through the main doors to the castle, easily pushing them aside as he sought out his destination. Inside a room near the center of the castle, the boy found a girl sleeping on a massive bed. Long blue hair obscured much of her face. "Sister… Wake up." Rai said. The girl's eyes fluttered open. Nobody understood why, but when Rai told her to wake up, she always did. "Here… Try this. It may help." Mutely, the girl nodded and ate the Rosmeritus Balmian Rai had brought from Kakariko, wrinkling her nose slightly at the rather nasty flavor. Several seconds after finishing, her head dropped to the mattress again, as even the small amount of movement she'd done exhausted her.

"Rai." A male voice said. The boy turned and grinned at his father, King Link. Sometimes his father was called the Hero of Time, which was something to do with an adventure he'd had that involved time travel. The boy had heard the story many times, but kept forgetting the details. "Well?"

"I shattered the boulder with one hit." The boy said, smirking. "Using my left hand, no less." His father gazed sternly at him.

"That's not what I meant. The performers at the circus have been going wild because one of their number is missing. What did you do?" the King asked. Rai sighed.

"I can't hide _anything _from you…" he muttered. "She was locked in a cage, and hadn't been fed for a week. When I found her, she was already almost as exhausted as my sister, _and _they were expecting her to perform some complex magical stunt or whatever." Link smiled and nodded.

"I thought that might be the case. You wouldn't just do something like that for no apparent reason. What else made you decide to do it?"

"She's the girl I keep seeing in my dreams." Rai explained. "I had to help her." Link laughed, pat his son on the head, and kissed his daughter's forehead. "Aaaaanyways… Can I borrow your sword?" Link's hand flew down to the Master Sword, which was buckled at his side. "No, no, not _that _one. The other one." He said, pointing to the wall. Link looked, and noted that the boy was indicating Biggoron's Sword.

"What do you need _that _strong of a sword for?" the King asked, scowling. "Since I kept my Silver Gauntlets, even though I gave you the Golden ones, I can still use it myself, but… What do you plan on using it for?"

"Heh… I have to leave." Rai replied. "Dad, you're the King, you can't go traveling all over Hyrule every single time a few Moblins or whatever show up. But you do anyways, and nothing I can say will ever change that. Besides, you can warp. If she's real, though, then I think I need to find the other person I keep dreaming about. And I know he's nowhere in Hyrule." Link blinked. "I think… They have the other two pieces of the Triforce." At this, Link's eyes rose.

"Is that so." He said, thinking. "Well, you're old enough that I can trust your judgment, so… Take whatever you need, except my normal sword. I don't need those things anyways, and I found a few extras of most things."

"Heh. Thanks, Dad." Rai said, removing Biggoron's Sword from its mounted spot on the wall. Keeping it in its sheath, the boy strapped it to his back, and moved towards the Armory. Inside, among the normal swords, spears, shields, bows, and so on, there was a locked chamber. Rai quickly held up his right hand, and the lock clicked open as the Triforce used a small amount of power. Rai entered the room, and began picking up items. As he did so, one of the most useful abilities of the Triforce activated. While he would have had no trouble carrying all of the items, they would have been bulky and troublesome. However, with the Triforce, they would vanish until needed.

The next few minutes were spent picking up ammunition for the weapons that needed it, the Mirror Shield (he felt slightly guilty, knowing that it was an awesome item, but took it anyways), and most of the other things his father used. Among them were two extra pairs of clothes, one colored red and one colored blue, that would allow him to survive in either intense heat or underwater.

Finished with that, the boy looked at his Gauntlets, then shook his head and put them back into his pouch. He preferred to keep them on only when he needed them, as his strength was magnified by the enchanted items, and he was strong enough as it was. The boy couldn't imagine living without the immense physical power granted to hm by the Triforce of Power, which he figured was aptly named.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Rai woke up early the next morning, intending to head out as soon as possible.

Stretching, the boy silently proceeded to the dining hall and stocked up on food, before turning around and finding the girl he had rescued the day before standing in front of him, blushing. She had been garbed in some of Zelda's old clothing, and looked almost like royalty herself. The girl didn't say a word, but bowed to him.

"Wow… You look really different." Rai said, thinking. After a moment, he pulled off the rope that still bound her hair in a ponytail, letting it flow outwards. "There we go. You look nothing like you did earlier." She bit her lower lip and nodded.

"I… Uh… Thank you for helping me." She said. Rai laughed.

"You dreamed about somebody else, too, right?" he asked. The girl froze, then nodded. "Well, I'm heading out to find him. So, if you're coming…"

"Yes!" she said quickly. Rai laughed.

"Well, then, get whatever you need, because we're heading out." Rai said. "Now, I'll have to think of a cover story… Hmm… Got it." He smiled. "Meet me by the Castle Stables when you're done." The girl nodded and hurried off, while Rai calmly went to the stables. "Let me think… Saddle Midnight and Noser. Give Noser traveling equipment; she can handle it. Tents and whatnot." He instructed the groom, who immediately carried out the orders. Noser was given her name because that was about the most dangerous thing she would ever do; gently nose somebody in her eternal quest for apples. Midnight, on the other hand, was Rai's favorite steed; a spirited black stallion sired by Epona, and one of the fastest creatures Rai had ever ridden. He tended to kick anybody but Rai and his groom.

The prince was occasionally a speed demon, and loved every minute of it. Several minutes passed, then the two steeds were brought to Rai, who immediately took Midnight's reins and glared at him.

"Listen, Midnight, you're not allowed to run all out. You have to keep pace with Noser. And you can't kick my friend. Do you understand me?" Rai asked. The horse nodded three times. "Good boy." Rai said, patting its neck. The girl walked up a moment later, looking nervously at the stallion, who bared his teeth at her. "Don't worry, you're riding Noser. A square stone couldn't fall off of her." He said, smirking. "…Come to think of it, what's your name, anyways?"

"Hm? Oh… I… I don't have one…" the girl muttered. "I suppose I must've had one once, but at the circus everybody just called me 'girl', 'mage', or 'stupid'…" Rai sighed.

"I'll think of a name for you, then." He said, looking very carefully at the girl. For the first time, it clicked in his head that the girl's hair was pink. _Bright _pink. "Er… Your hair…"

"Oh, right." The girl said, shutting her eyes. Her hair shifted to brown in color. "The Ringmaster insisted I have my hair colored really brightly, to look exotic or something." She said, giggling nervously. "It's not really hard to do or anything… I just forgot to change it back to something plain when you rescued me." Rai shrugged, picked the girl up, and sat her on Noser. Mounting Midnight a moment later, he lead the girl and Noser out of the castle, and the two began heading down the gates. Somebody from the circus spied them and ran over, positioning himself in front of the group.

"Hold it! Where are you going with our mage?" he demanded, looking at the girl.

"Mage? What Mage?" Rai asked, looking around. "I don't see any mage."

"She's on the horse next to you!" the man replied angrily. Rai rolled his eyes and gave a heaving sigh.

"What are you, _stupid_?" he asked, in his best 'exasperated prince dealing with an idiot' voice. "This is Princess Aurora of Siliria, and I'm escorting her back to her home at her request. Now get out of our way, we've a long ways to travel, and we need to be halfway to Lon Lon ranch in two days. Doesn't help that her steed makes a turtle look fast, either." The man squinted at the girl suspiciously. "Now, surely you've heard about the strength that the Prince of Hyrule possesses?" Rai asked, raising an eyebrow. The man looked at him, and Rai held up a hand. "Ask any citizen of Hyrule, they'll all tell you the same thing. It would be easy to throw you straight out of the castle, and with my weaker left hand. So _move_." The man moved, and the two adventurers continued on.

Once out of earshot, the girl said "That was really convincing… I almost believed that you really _could _throw him out of the grounds!"

"…Who said I was joking?" Rai asked. He grabbed an apple right off a nearby tree, took aim, and threw. It sailed straight out of sight. The girl could only gape. "I _am _strong. I pulled those bars out of your cage, and that wasn't even hard, remember? This is what lets me do those sorts of things." He held up his right hand, upon which the Triforce of Power glowed. The girl gasped, and looked at her own right hand. Responding to Rai's piece, her own Triforce of Wisdom was glowing.

"You… You have the same mark…" she said, breathless. Rai laughed and nodded. "Wow… Hmm… Princess Aurora… I like that name." she smiled.

"Well, then, your name is officially Aurora." Rai said, smirking. Midnight snorted. "Oh, shut it, you big mangy beast. You know very well that both people _and _horses should have names." Midnight snorted again, but offered no further comment as Rai and Aurora passed through the Castle Town and headed out into Hyrule Field.

"So… Where are we going?" Aurora asked quietly. Rai thought for a moment, then concentrated. Both pieces of the Triforce they had glowed, and a beam shot out of each, directly south.

"That way." Rai replied. "So… We'll be passing by Lake Hylia, eh? And we're going to Lon Lon Ranch after all." He laughed.

"What's Lon Lon Ranch?" Aurora inquired, being unfamiliar with almost the entirety of Hyrule.

"It's a huge farm." Rai explained. "Where most of the food is grown, milk is milked, animals are raised, and so forth. _Everybody _buys that sort of thing from them. I think part of it's that my father only buys their goods, since he knows the owner of the ranch, Miss Malon, and they've always been pretty close. Mom doesn't mind, either, since they're friends. And since I'm very well known there, after that time I freed all the workers from a collapsed barn… We can get extra supplies there and whatnot."

Aurora nodded, trying to picture the Ranch in her head. She couldn't do it. Hours passed while the two talked, and soon enough the sun was very high in the sky, and Rai declared it lunchtime.

"Time for a good meal for all four of us." He said, hopping down from Midnight. He looked shrewdly at the horse for a moment. "Don't go too far, Midnight." He said sternly. The horse licked his face and trotted off, soon bending down to pull at some grass. "Stupid horse…" Rai muttered. He helped Aurora dismount, pulled a few sandwiches out of wherever they were stored, and handed one to Aurora. The girl smiled, thanked him, and quietly began eating. Rai ate fast, then unsheathed Biggoron's Sword and began practicing with it. "Forgot how hard to use this sword is…" he muttered. For him, it wasn't exactly hard to lift, he just had the problem of the fact that no matter how strong he was, the sword was extremely heavy, and thus couldn't be moved like most swords. "Okay… I remember now." He said, using both hands to slam the sword downwards in an overhead cleave. Not being particularly strong in comparison, the ground split open for a good eighth of a mile or so.

"Wow…" Aurora said, blinking. "Um… Remind me never to get on your bad side, okay?" she said nervously. Rai laughed, cleaned the blade, and resheathed his sword. Noting that Aurora had finished eating, Rai whistled through his fingers to call Midnight back over. Following orders, the horse trotted up, and waited patiently while Rai helped Aurora mount, then swung onto his own steed. The two rode off, at the fairly slow pace Noser had set.

The day passed, then another, and then part of another. At noon of the third day of travel, Rai and Aurora found below them a massive field, where thousands of plants were growing.

"Mmm… Well, another day or so and we'll be in the middle of the Ranch." Rai said, smirking. Aurora nodded mutely as she looked around. "…Something bothering you?" the boy asked, not _completely _insensitive to these sorts of things.

"I've… I've just got this strange feeling." The girl whispered. "Like something's horribly wrong. I just can't figure out what it is." She sighed and fiddled with Noser's reins. Rai relaxed on Midnight for several moments, thinking.

"I hear a howling wind." The boy said quietly. "And I see death, destruction, and ruins across the land." Aurora looked sharply at the boy, whose eyes had suddenly become unfocused. "Shadow… Covering the world… And a shining sword… Like none other…" the boy fell off Midnight and hit the ground, unconscious.

"Rai!" Aurora screamed, scrambling down from her horse. "Hang in there!" she whispered, bending over him. There was no response from Hyrule's Prince.

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…I could probably have made that a little more dramatic, but oh well. If you wanna know what happens next, then review! Good reviews encourage me to write!

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